Lubricating device for internal-combustion engines and the like



D. C. HEISTER. LUBRICATING DEVICE- FOR INTERNAL comausnou ENGINES ANDTHE LIKE. APPLICAIIDN FILED OCT. 2?,1919.

1,391,734. I PatentedSept. 27,1921.

F i) Q i. a z I 2 Q 0 1 $1. c g a 3 I f fly Zwheel :16.

v UNITED s'TATEs PATENT oFF-ICE.

DANIEL c. HEISTER, or BOULDER, COLORADO;

LUBRICATING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES mp THE 'nmn.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that J1, "DANIEL G..H1'3isrnn,a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Boulder, in the county of Boulder and State ofColorado, have invented or discovered:

certain new and useful Improvements in Lubrlcating Devices forInternal-Gombuss tion Engines and the like, of which the fol- Y .lowingis a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanyingdrawings.

Thls inventlon relates to .lubllCtttlllg means, and especially, althoughnot eXclu-' sively, to lubricating devlces for internal COIl'lbllStlOIlenglnes.

The invention has for an object to provide animprovcd constructionwhereby a lubricant, preferably a relatively heavy lubricant, may beevenly and reliably applied to the interior of the cylin- .der throughthe -medium 0f thepistontherein.

The foregoing and other objects of-the in vention, together. with meanswhereby the same may be carried into effect, will best be understoodfrom-the following description of one form or embodiment thereof-illus-. trated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood,however, that the particu'lar construction described and shown has beenchosen for illustrative purposes merely,

and that the invention, as definedrby the claims hereunto appended, maybe otherwise embodied without departing from the spirit 7 and scopethereof.

In said drawings: Figure 1 is a substantially central longitudinalvertical section of an engine having? the invention applied :thereto. V

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken substantially on the line2, Fig; 1. I r

.Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail verticalsection of the pump piston and thead acent portion of'th'e pump cylinder.

The invention, while capable of many other applications, isherein-shownasjembodied in an internal combustion enginehaving a body composed ofthree sections, namely, a crank case 10, a, cylinder block 11,

and a head block 12, said sections being securedtogether to form aunitary structure, as by means of bolts 13 or otherwise. The crank caselO'is formed with bearings 14 in which is journaled the crank shaft 15provided, outside said crank case, with the usual The-cylinder block 11is 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 27,1921.

Application filed October 27, 1919. Serial No. 333,457.

formed to constitute a pair of parallelworkmg or motor cylinders 17 and18-and a single pump cylinder 19 disposed parallel to said workingcylinders between the same, the heads of said working and pump cylindersbeing formed in'the head block 12. The

cylinder block 11 is chambered to form a.

space 20 which extends about and between the cylinders 17 18, and 19,while the head .block :12 is also chamberedto form a space 21 extendingabout and between the cylin-.

der heads and communicating with the space 20'between said cylinders andheads, said spaces 20 and 21 collectively providing a water 'ja'cketwhich completely surrounds and isolates the several cylinders, includingthe heads thereof,.thereby affording to the water a relatively largecooling surface and avoiding preheating. Within the motor cylinders 17and 18 aremotor' pistons22 and I 23, respectively, while within the pumpcylinder'19 is a pump piston 24; The motor pistons 22 and .23 areconnected by rods 25 and 26 with cranks 27 and 28 on the crank shaft 15,while the piston "24 is connected by means hereinafter described'with acrank 29. on said shaft. The cranks 27 and 28 are op; positely disposed,orangula-rly spaced 180 from each other, while the crank 29 is carriedby bushings seated in centrally disposed threaded openings in thecylinder heads; Each of the working cylinders 17 and '18 constitutes,with its piston 22 or 23,

a motor unit, while the pump cylinder 19 and piston 24 similarlyconstitutes a pump unit.

Each of the motor units 17, 22 or '18, 23is single acting, while thepump unit 19, 24- is double acting,'the piston 24 being adapted,

when moved alternately in opposite directions in the cylinder 19, tocompress fluid in the opposite ends of said-cylinder, respectively. Thecylinders 17', 18 may there fore, as is usual, be open to the crankcaseat theirinner ends, while the cylinder-19 is provided with an inner head'34. Rigidly.

attached to the pump piston 24 is a piston rod which passes through asuitably packed opening in the inner cylinder head 34 and is connectedat its inner end to a cross head 36 operating in guides 37 dependingfrom said cylinder head 34 and carrying at their inner ends intermediatebearings 38 for the crank shaft 15, said cross head 36 being connectedby a pitman 39 with the crank 29. The outer and inner heads of thecylinder 19 are preferably provided respectively with safety valves 40and 41 carried by. bushings 42 .and 43 seated in threaded 'opemngs 1nsald heads, the opening for the bushing 42 being centrally lo cated tocorrespond in position to, the bushings 33.. The inner end of thecylinder 19 is provided with a discharge port connected by a pipe orcondu-it44 with the outer end or explosion space ofthe cylinder 18,while the outer end of the said cylinder 19 is similarly provided with adischarge port con-J nected by a pipe or conduit 45 with the outer endof the cylinder 17, said pipes 44 and 45 being provided with checkvalves 46 opening toward the working cylinders. The pipe 44 extendslongitudinally through, and is located substantially throughout itslength in that portion of the water space 20 between the cylinders 18and'l9, while the pipe 45 is similarly located in the water space 21of'the head block 12, thereby providing means for der being providedwith inwardly opening check valves 49. The volumetric capaclty of thepump unit, 19, 24 is preferably greater than that of either of the motorunits 17, 22

and 18, 23. To this end, in the. construction shown, the diameter of thepump cylinder 19 is greater than that of the working cylinders 17 and18, the length of the crank 29 being equal to that of the cranks 27 and28.

In operation, as the piston 22 passes'its middle position on its inwardor power stroke, the piston 24 commences to move outwardly therebycompressing a charge in the outer end of the cylinder 19, and, when saidpiston 22 reaches its innermost posi-' tion, said piston 24 will havereachedits middle position, as shown in Fig. 1. At this time the piston22 will have uncovered the exhaust ports 30 of the cylinder 17permitting the partially compressed charge in' the outer end of thecylinder 19 to enter the cylinder 17 through the pipe 45, forcing thecombustion gases out through said exhaust-ports and filling saidcylinder, this operation being assured by the excess capacity of thecylinder 19 over that of the cylinder '17-, notwithstanding the factthat the piston 24 has at this time only reached its position ofmidstroke. Thereafter as the piston 22 moves outwardly it closes theexhaust ports 30, and, the piston 24 continuing to move outwardly, thecharge will be compressed by both of said pistons until the piston 22reaches its midstroke, when the piston 24 starts-inwardly, the finalcompression of the charge being effected by the latter half of theoutward movement of the piston 22, upon the completion of which saidcharge is fired. During the outward movement of the piston 24 a chargeis. drawn into the inner end of the cylinder 19 through the manifold 47,which charge is compressed by the piston 24 upon the in? ward movementof the latter, said inward movement serving also to draw a fresh chargeinto the outer end :of the cylinder 19. When the piston 24 startsinwardly the piston 23 will be in its midposition on its in-. ward orpower stroke, but as the piston 24 reaches its J central position thepiston 23 uncovers the ports 30 of the cylinder 18, permitting thecompressed charge in the inner end of the cylinder 19 to pass through.the pipe 44 to the cylinder 18, said charge being compressed during theoutward stroke of the piston 23 and the remainder of the inward strokeof the piston 24 in a mannersimilar to the compression of the charge inthe cylinder 17. V

The stroke of the pump piston being quartered with respect to that ofeach working piston, it will be seen that said pump piston operates,during the first half of each stroke, to exert upon acharge an initialcompression (which, by reason of the diiference in volumetric capacityof the motorand pump units, is suflicient to insure the scavenging andchargingof'the corresponding working cylinder), while, during the lasthalf of the stroke of the pump piston and the first half of thecompression stroke of the corresponding working piston, said pistonsoperate simultaneously upon the charge to compressthe same.

In accordance with the present invention special lubricating means areprovided for 1 the pump cylinder 19 in view of the closed inner end ofthe latter, and similar means are preferably also employed forlubricating the working cylinders. As shown in Fig.3 the piston 24 isformed in two sections 50 and 51 having adjacent faces of concave formto provide a lubricant cavity or reservoir 52, the outer edges of saidsections being slightly separated to provide a narrow annular slot 53communicating with the lubricant cavity 52 and with the outer peripheryof the piston. While the parts may be otherwise assembled and secured,the piston rod 35 is herein shown as being memes formed adjacent itsouter' end witha re-.

duced'portion 55 providing a shoulder5 1,

and at its extreme end beyond the reduced portion 55 with a furtherreduced portion 56 providing a second shoulder 57. The inner pistonsection 51 is seated on the shoulder 54:, being clamped thereto by a nut58 in threaded engagement with the reduced portion 55, and the outerpiston section 50 is seated on the shoulder 57 and is clamped thereto bya nut 59 in threaded engagement with the reduced portion 56 andpreferably received in a countersunk recess in the outer face of saidouter section 50. The piston rod 35 is formed with an axial passage 60extending to the outer end of said piston rod and communicating at itsinner end with one or more radial passages 61 leading to the interior ofthe lubricant cavity 52, the outer end of said passage 60 beingcontrolled by an inwardly opening check valve 62. One of the pistonsections,

2 herein the outer section 50, is provided with one or morelongitudinally disposed pressure passages 63 extending from the face ofsaid section to the lubricant cavity 52, said passages being controlledby inwardly opening check valves 64. V

A relatively heavy lubricant is supplied to the reservoir 52, when thepiston 24 is in its outermost position, by removing the relief valvebushing 42, inserting a suitable grease gun through the central openingin the outer head of the cylinder 19 and into engagement with the outerend of the passage 60, and forcing the lubricant past the check valve 62and through the passages 60 and 61 into the lubricant cavity 52. Inoperation, pressure generated in the outer end of the cylinder 19 byoutward movement of the piston 24:, is communicated, through thepassages 63, to the lubricant in the cavity 52, causing said lubricantto be forced or fed through the slot 53 and to be spread evenly over theinterior of the cylinder 18. Improper escape of the lubricant throughthe passages 60 and 63 under-the influence of suction or otherwise isprevented by the check valves 62 and 6 1.

As above stated a similar construction is preferably employed for theworking pistons 22 and 23, the lubricant reservoirs in said pistonsbeing filled by removal of the centrally disposed spark plug bushings33, and the lubricant feeding pressure being, of course, generated bythe combustion in the working cylinders. The construction described hasbeen found to effect a much more even lubrication of the workingcylinders than is possible by means of the usual splash systems, and isespecially useful in the engine herein shown and in which, by reason ofthe double acting pump piston 24c requiring special connection with thecrank shaft, the spacing of said crank shaft from the inner ends of thecylinders is necessarily somewhat greater than usual, thereby increasingthe difficulty of adequate lubrication of the'cylinders by the usualsplash system.

The terms inner and outer are herein used, in accordance with the usualcustom, to designate, respectively, the relative positions or ends ofthe working cylinder toward and from which the working piston travels inmaking its power stroke, it being assumed, for convenience ofdescription, that the piston moves inwardly on its power stroke andoutwardly on its compression stroke. These terms are therefore to beconstrued merely as referring to the operation of the engine and not aslimiting the relative arrangement of its structural parts.

Having thus described my invention I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent:

1. The combination with a cylinder, of a piston therein comprising apair of spaced sections providing between them a lubricant reservoirandan annular slot communicating with said .reservoir and with theperiphery of said piston.

2. The combination with a cylinder, of a piston therein comprising apair of spaced sections, said sections having concave adjacent facesproviding a lubricant reservoir, and the edges of said sectionsproviding between them an annular lubricant feeding slot.

3. The combination with a piston rod having a pair of shoulders, of apair of piston sections inclosing between them a lubricant reservoir andproviding between their edges an annular lubricant feeding slot, andmeans for clamping said piston. sections against said shoulders.

4. The combination with a piston rod having a reduced threaded portionproviding a shoulder and a second further reduced threaded portionproviding a second shoulder, of an inner piston section seated on saidfirst-named shoulder, a nut on said firstnamedthreaded portion clampingsaid piston section to said shoulder, an outer piston section on saidsecond shoulder, and a second nut on said second threaded portionclamping said outer piston section to said second shoulder, saidsections having concave adjacent faces providing a lubricant reservoir,and the edges of said sections providing between them an annularlubricant feeding slot.

5. The combination with a piston rod, of a pair of spaced pistonsections thereon providing between them a lubricant reservoir and anannular peripheral lubricant feeding slot, said piston rod having anaxial passage extending to the end thereof and radial passages leadingfrom said axial passage to the interior of said lubricant reservoir.

6. The combination with a piston rod, of a pair of spaced pistonsections thereon providing between them a lubricant reservoir and anannular peripheral lubricant feeding slot, said piston rod having anaxial passage extending to the end thereof and radial passages leadingfrom said axial passage to the'interior, of said lubricant reservoir,and an inwardly opening check valve controlling the axial passage insaid piston rod.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

DANIEL C. HEISTER.

